An Important Conversation
by Evangeline's Angel
Summary: Sirius has something he needs to tell Harry. Hermione comes along for the ride.


**AN: Hi there, just a one shot to start things off, though there will be quite a few more items uploaded tonight. This is a one shot based off of a few prompts I came across while looking for something to write about. The fic is 830 words long, I hope you enjoy it!**

**An Important Conversation**

Harry stood with Hermione, at the mouth of a cave in which Sirius had taken up residence while the Tri-Wizard Tournament unfolds. He had been here for nearly a fortnight and bade Harry to visit on the pretence of a spell for the aforementioned Tournament. Harry took a hesitant step into the dark cave and raised his wand, the spell _lumos_ on the tip of his tongue when out of nowhere, the big black burly body of Padfoot tumbled out of the cave and landed, quite unceremoniously in a heap at the young wizard's feet. The dog sat up and looked around, as if confused as to how it had come to be in the place it currently was in.

After a moment to collect himself, Padfoot led the pair into the cave, and further still into a tent. Once in the tent Padfoot seamlessly became Sirius once more. The previously bedraggled man changed greatly in the time he had been away. He gained quite a bit of weight and no longer looked like a man out of Auschwitz after WWII, but a healthy, albeit skinny man. His hair was cut and his beard shaved to nothing. He held his arms wide and grinned at the two young people in front of him.

"Harry! Hermione!" He gathered both up in his arms and held them tightly for a moment before stepping back to take a closer look at each of them. He scrutinized Harry for a moment before narrowing his eyes slightly. "Have you been eating enough?" He turned to face Hermione, "has he been eating enough?"

Harry sputtered for a moment before indignantly huffing, "I eat just fine, thank you very much." Harry shuffled to a chair and flopped over into it. Hermione giggled into her hand and sat down on the couch kitty-corner to Harry. Sirius stayed standing, pacing from one end of the tent to the other. Silence reigned over the room for a few moments before Harry cleared his throat. "Sirius?"

The man looked over at the two teens. Sirius heaved a sigh and settled onto the coffee table in front of the young adults. He gazed at them before dropping his head to hand between his knees.

Harry leaned forwards in his seat. "Sirius? What's wrong?"

"Harry – oh Harry!" He exclaimed, "I am so sorry. I wish it wasn't this way, I wish it didn't have to be this way!" He barely glanced up before running his fingers through his hair and looking back at the floor. "Harry, James was my best friend, I loved him like a brother, but Lily, Lily was my life." He looked back up at Harry with pleading eyes. "We were married, and then we were blessed. You came along and everything was wonderful, for a while. We were so happy, ecstatic really. Then Dumbledore came with a prophecy, you were going to be targeted. We had to do what we did. James, he offered to take my place, to be your father for a while, we chose Peter to be the secret keeper, Remus was your godfather. I trusted him with my wife, with my son. You were – are – my whole life." Sirius dropped his head again and stared resolutely at the floor.

Hermione's eyes were wide and her hand rested against her slightly open mouth. Harry seemed to be struggling to form words. "S-so-so you are-re my father?"

Sirius didn't raise his head when he nodded. The movement was so quick that Hermione didn't notice anything until Sirius shouted out. Harry threw himself out of his seat to his knees beside the man hunched on the table. He wrapped his arms around the man and a sob. Sirius nearly instinctively wrapped his arms around Harry and held them close to his chest. The two began to sob together, each clutching at the other as if their lives depended on keeping them close. Sirius began mumbling into Harry's hair. "My baby, my little boy!" over and over he repeated the same words as Harry clung harder and harder to the man.

Hermione sat shocked. She could hardly believe her own ears. Everyone seemed to be so sure that James was Harry's father; even Professor Lupin seemed to be sure. How could the godfather forget his godson? What did this prophecy say that caused this? Hermione shook her head, if anyone deserved a parent, it was Harry, but he certainly didn't deserve for this to have happened to him. She frowned at the thought and shook her head, _Why is it always Harry?_ She let out an involuntary sob of her own. Both males in the room looked up at her, shocked as if they forgot she was even there in the first place.

Harry looked up at her; she could see the tears shining in his eyes, but the smile on his face. Hermione smiled back at her friend, her eyes just as shiny as Harry's.


End file.
